How Much Does My LO Need?

oprastr

My LO is 14 weeks old and bit of a peanut. We are still in newborn clothes. I have always given her 4oz bottles of BM when I give one and she had seemed happy with it to me.

Last week we did a half day with the sitter for practice as I go back to work tomorrow. The sitter thought she needed 5oz. I am not convinced she's right but now the night before I have to drop her off Im second guessing the 4oz bottles I'm sending. What's the deal? I thought I read somewhere that EBF babies never really need more than 4oz because BM changes to match nutritional needs.

matthew_elizabeth

How many times a day does she nurse? You should divide 25/(times a days LO nurses) to get how many ounces. Most babies drink between 25-30 oz BM. So if she nurses 8 times she would need around 3oz BM (or around 4 if she's on the higher end). I don't have the link because I'm in my phone, but kellymom has a section on this topic. Right now I give DD just a rad over 3oz and she's almost 13 weeks. All babies are different though. 

kalette

My LO is 7 1/2 months and still only takes 4oz in a bottle. She will take 5 first thing in the morning though.

sooner1981

It really depends on your baby and their hunger cues when they are away from you.  My 8.5 month old EBF LO has never gone under 32 ounces/day, from about 2 months on.  She drinks almost 8 ounces when she nurses first thing in the morning (based on several weighted feedings), yet she only drinks about 12-15 ounces with the babysitter (usually 5 to 6 ounce bottles).  She makes up the difference at the second feeding of the morning before I drop her off and in the evening and in one overnight feeding.

For what it's worth--she is 50% for weight, 97% for height.

blu-eyedwife

Your sitter is probably feeding her too fast, before her little stomach can tell her little brain it's full.  This isn't an issue with eating from the breast, but is a major issue with bottle feeding.  That's why the phrase "you can't overfeed a breastfed baby" applies only to feeding from the breast.  It should take her as long to eat from a bottle as it does from the breast, but most providers don't take the time to feed the baby in that manner.